There are no angels in this wasteland, but if there were, this is the only face I would want to see. I’ve never hallucinated like this since being here, but I trace every line and curve of her face, willing myself to remember it when it inevitably dissolves around me.
The angel bends down, her focus set on the chains holding me in place—holding my Essence at bay. I try to move my mouth, to tell her it’s no use. But the iced chains around my wrists are snapped off, a fire in her eyes that I’ve never seen blazing up at me.
Her fingers pause briefly as she gazes down at the burns on my wrists, her stunning face twisting into that delicious, fiery anger I love so much.
My eyes flutter closed, sinking into the memory of that fire being directed at me. I hold onto it, clinging to memories of the ghost in front of me.
“Graylen,”her lovely, raspy voice snaps, finally—finally—reaching my ears. “Look at me. Stay with me.”
She moves to my ankles next, cursing beautifully harsh words as she tugs at them.
“I’m sorry if I’m hurting you,” she mumbles, her voice tense.
But she doesn’t know that my legs are numb. I can’t feel much other than a faint pressure.
It’s a beautiful dream to imagine this is real, that my Lunaria is releasing me from this prison. What a wonderful dream my mind is letting me have. I likely passed out from some torture from Vidaris, or maybe my body simply gave up for the day and allowed me this small reprieve.
Finally, she stands, and warm hands slide onto my face. Without the weight of the chains holding my arms down by my sides, they fly up to her waist, gripping her like the lifeline I so desperately need.
Even if she isn’t real.
It isn’t her—isn’t the woman who became my whole world. Vidaris has played this game before, sendingLunariato come rescue me, only to morph into something else. Sometimes a creature so grotesque I had to swallow down the bile that crept up my throat; other times a version of Lu that I could never get out of my head.
A version where she’s a corpse. Cold and dead.
But this version in front of me is the one that haunts me most of all. The one that looks like her—the one that, for the first time,smellslike her. It’s the version that reminds me how far the real Lunaria is from me.
I hold her gaze, and her nostrils flare, a soft growl rumbling from her chest. Blood from the sky streaks down her face, but she’ll always be beautiful to me. Perfect.
“We have to go,” she rushes out, her eyes wide and lower lip trembling.
My gaze drifts to her mouth. I know I’m not being rescued—Vidaris’s tricks have gotten old. Be it her tricks or my ownmind slowly deteriorating, I’ll take it. I’ll pretend. If only for a moment, I can fall into this illusion and lose myself in it.
I lean forward, crushing her body against mine as my lips crash into hers. She melts into me instantly, and something changes. The bond between us, the one that’s been hidden and quiet, roars to life.
My tongue slides into her mouth, and she grips my face so hard that it grounds me to this moment. The well of magic that’s been suppressed deep inside of me begins to stir. It reaches for Lu, a thread of her magic tangling with mine.
I rip away from her, my chest heaving.
Everything inside of me freezes. Because the woman I love—my brilliant shooting star—is in the last place I want her to be.
“You’re real,” I rasp.
A tear slides down her cheek, mingling with the crimson rain. It’s a stark contrast to the fury swirling in her gaze—the determination that only my Lunaria could have.
This isn’t Vidaris—isn’t a trick.
Which means we need to get the fuck out of here.
Thirty
Chrysoprase
My hand slips into his,and I tug him with me.
The shard took me directly to him, making this a littletooeasy… I’ll explorethatlater. Right now, I have him, and that’s all I can focus on. There were no beasts waiting to attack, no Vidaris appearing instantly.
There were just the endless red skies above and desolate, empty land that went on farther than I could see. Then there was Graylen.MyGraylen. Bound and chained with tattered clothing. Any relief I had in finding him disappeared when I realized he didn’t understand I was real.
